I love almonds! I eat them almost everyday – either raw, roasted or in my green smoothie. I even love almond milk! Here are some interesting facts from NutriLiving:

What’s Going on with Almonds?

Did you know that California supplies 80 percent of the world’s almonds? Not only do they help manage weight and combat diabetes, they are also one of the most nutrient-packed tree nuts on Earth! Get your almond Blast ready with these fun facts about one of our favorite NutriBlast boosts!

Boston Layer-Lapse

Traditional time-lapses are constrained by the idea that there is a single universal clock. In the spirit of Einstein’s relativity theory, layer-lapses assign distinct clocks to any number of objects or regions in a scene. Each of these clocks may start at any point in time, and tick at any rate. The result is a visual time dilation effect known as layer-lapse.

Clips can be licensed and customized to other pieces of music, email me if you are interested: [email protected]

I’m aware of a couple photographers that have done similar work including Fong Qi Wei’s “Time in Motion” series which definitely influenced me, and Geoff Tompkinson’s “Chicago toccata & fugue” which I did not discover until much more recently. If anyone is working on a similar style, please feel free to reach out to me, I’d love to exchange ideas.

“The past is not gone, and the future isn’t non-existent; the past, the future, and present are all existing [now] in exactly the same way.” Max Tegmark

Your Guide to Slang in Other Countries

One of the best ways to blend in with locals while traveling is to be well versed in the vernacular. We spoke to our local experts around the world to bring you some useful slang from the streets of cities in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

PARIS

The French have an argot—a language used by groups to prevent outsiders from understanding (friendly, eh?)—called verlan, which is a type of slang created by inverting syllables (sort of like pig Latin). This is actually quite popular in common parlance, with words like teuf (a party, or to party = faire la teuf, from fete) and meuf(woman, from femme). Here are some words that tourists might find useful on the streets of Paris:

Ouais = instead of oui

Coucou = Hey there (very casual)

Schez-pas = I don’t know (reduced version of je ne sais pas)

Fringue = clothes

Bouffe = food

Un express / un petit cafe = espresso; for the latter, they don’t really mean a small coffee, it’s still an espresso.

Un pot = a drink (prendre un pot = get a drink)

Sous= money. This is actually old French and it’s made a comeback.

C’est dingue ! = It’s strange / crazy!

Mince! / oh la vache! = Darn.

ROME

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Italian is peppered with slang and abbreviations that have taken on a life of their own. Here are some useful verbal phrases to impress the locals on your next trip to Italy:

Teso’ = for “tesoro” (literally “treasure”). You often hear parents addressing their little children in this way.

BERLIN

Believe it or not, Berlin has its own dialect. Berliner Schnauze (literally, Berlin snout) is thought to originate with East Low German—which, though rejected from the 16th century on in favor of standard German, was retained in parts and evolved into theBerlinisch that can be heard on the streets of the capital today.

One defining feature is that the “g” sound is replaced by a “j” (pronounced softly in German, like the English “y”). So “Guten Morgen (good morning)” would be “Juten Morjen” (pronounced “yooten moryen”). Similarly, the “ich” sound (“ich” means “I” in German) is pronounced “ick,” which (conveniently) happens to be much easier for native English speakers to wrap their mouths around.

Typically known for being somewhat rough around the edges, this traditional vernacular is actually quite charming, and has given rise to numerous little sayings and rhymes such as:

Ick gloob, meen Schwein pfeift—literally translated, this means: “I believe my pig is whistling,” and has a similar meaning to the English idiom “Knock me down with a feather!”

Then there’s:

Ick liebe Dir

Ick liebe Dich

Wie’s richtich is’

Det wees ick nich’

Ick liebe Dir

Uff alle Fälle.

Which roughly translates to:

I love you [dative case]

I love you [accusative case]

Which one is right

I do not know

I love you

In any case.

BOSTON

The broad New England accent has evolved its own language of sorts.Here are some of the most well-used quirks of the Bostonian tongue:

Bubblah = (drinking) water fountain

Packie ­= package store = liquor store

Spa = neighborhood corner shop where you’d buy cigarettes or milk

Cella = the basement of your house

Wicked = most, very, a superlative

Suppah = dinner, last meal of the day

LONDON

Cockney rhyming slang is a traditional and fun extension to the English language; it originated in the East End of London, and is still used by Londoners at times. It was widely used by criminals who wanted to talk without being understood, and later adopted by honest citizens for the same reasons.It works by choosing a two- or three-word phrase ending in a word that rhymes with the one you want to hide. You can then drop the rhyming word for even more clandestine chat. An early example is the phrase “apples and pears,” which is used for stairs. Instead of saying, “I’m walking up the stairs,” you’d say, “I’m walking up the apples.” Got it?

Listen carefully and chances are you’ll hear some of these on the streets of London today:

SHANGHAI

Though you might struggle with the notoriously tricky intonation of Chinese languages, there’s still a way to play locals at their own game when it comes to slang: Just use email or SMS. As a way to save money on text messaging, as well as avoid censorship, the Chinese use the pronunciation of each number to create a kind of code that can be deciphered phonetically. For example, the numbers are pronounced as follows (the numbers after each written pronunciation indicates the tone, of four, that should be used):

0 = ling (2)

1 = yi (1)

2 = er (2)

3 = san (1)

4 = si (4)

5 = wu (3)

6 = liu (4)

7 = qi (1)

8 = ba (1)

9 = jiu (3)

10 = shi (2)

So, if you are crying or sad, you can write “55555” (i.e.”wuwuwuwuwu“). Here are some more examples:

5376 (wu san qi liu) = I am angry.

8147 (ba yao si qi) = Don’t be angry.

56 (wu liu) = bored.

517 (wu yao qi) = I want to eat. Fun fact: The number for McDonald’s in China, which offers 24-hour delivery, is 4008-517-517, i.e. 4008-I want to eat-I want to eat.

520 = “wu(3)er(2)ling(2)” or “I love you.” To say “I love you” is “wo(3)ai(2)ni(3)” and that sounds very similar.

Then sign off your message with 88. The number 8 is pronounced “ba” in chinese which sounds like “bye,” so instead of writing it, you can just write “8” or “88”—or “888888888”!”

Photoshop artist and photographer Sarah DeRemer likes animals, but she doesn’t like them just the way they are. Sure, a seal is cute… and a pug is cute… but why settle on that when your Photoshop skills will let you create what she has dubbed a ‘Speal’?

DeRemer, for her part, never settles. And so, for her series of Hybrid Animals, she mixes together species that from opposite sides of the animal kingdom to create sometimes strange, sometimes cuddly, and sometimes terrifying (I’m looking at you… Shider) animals of her very own.

“I started creating hybrid animals as a way to improve my Photoshop skills,” she wrote recently on Bored Panda. “I find it fun to mix animals, especially when it creates a startling juxtaposition such as a ferocious animal on a cute and tiny one.”

What started as an exercise for the Hybrid Animals subreddit (yes… there is such a thing) has now become a fun hobby and led to quite the collection of hybrid creatures with odd names: